Karran Harper Royal works as an Education Advocate in New Orleans. She is the Assistant Director of Pyramid Community Parent Resource Center and the Training Coordinator for the New Orleans Parent Organizing Network. Her work at Pyramid involves providing one to one support to parents of children with disabilities and conducting workshops to help parents understand their rights under federal special education law. In addition to working with Pyramid and New Orleans Parent Organizing Network, Mrs. Harper Royal is a contributor to Research on Reforms and provides a parent voice to the work at Southern Poverty Law Center. Mrs. Harper Royal currently serves as the Chair of the Steering Committee of the Greater Gentilly High School as well as the chair of the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association’s (GCIA) Education Committee. Her work on the GCIA Education Committee lead to the creation of the Greater Gentilly High School, one of five new schools to be rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.

DR. RAYNARD SANDERS

Dr. Sanders has over thirty years of experience in teaching, education administration, and economic and community development. As a principal of a New Orleans high school, he was recognized by the Louisiana State Department of Education for guiding his high school through four consecutive years of improvement on the state graduate exit exam. He developed the first high school DNA lab in the state of Louisiana and created the Creole Cottage Project, an innovative program for his students to build and renovate houses in the school’s community. He also served as the Executive Director of The National Faculty at New Orleans, a professional development agency design to improve the quality of teaching in poor performing schools throughout the Mississippi Delta. Dr. Sanders received his B.A. from Dillard University in New Orleans, a Masters of Educational Administration from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and his Doctorate of Education from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City.